How easy it is to mistake the urgent for the important. Sometimes they are the same; causing our whole day's schedule to be rearranged. Because of a sick child, or a vehicle breakdown, we sense the urgency to set aside everything else so we can deal with the matter. It's important because to neglect it could be detrimental to other priorities.
But then there are other times when you have a list of priorities that must be done. These important things dictate how you will schedule your time. You schedule other things, but these important items must take priority.
Then, it happens. An urgent call comes, someone requests your presence. Other good things arise that you really want to do or someone is requesting you to do. The demands on your time and energy begin consuming your week. As you deal with the important priorities, interruptions occur. You lose time. Things aren't finished. Time is running out. Both the important as well as the urgent are calling for you. You get side tracked. Before you know it, the side tracks become the main thoroughfare of your daily life.
"How will I get this done?" you ask yourself. You may want to throw up your hands and say, "I can't do this!" But you know you have to do it.
I have often wondered how our ancestors in colonial times got things done (and took all day Sunday off), without the car, computer, cell phone, microwave, coffee maker, and drive-thru windows. If all of these conveniences are time savers, why do we seem to have so little time? And things are left undone.
Yet everyone has the same amount of time: 168 hours in a week, 24 hours in a day. Some of us manage it well and accomplish the necessary tasks; but many others live at a constantly overwhelming pace that never seems to let up.
If you are one of these people, are you enjoying this? Can you see how much of this demand upon you is largely created, or at least allowed, by you?
The burdens of life can be overwhelming. Yet there is never too much on you that God and you together can't handle. Do you know that with Him you are never alone, never outnumbered?
Pastor C. Oscar Johnson told of his boyhood days in rural east Tennessee. It was his duty to keep the wood box filled. One Saturday night, Sunday's wood had not been prepared; so he and his father had to fill the box before they could have supper. "Father cut the sticks to the right length and I was carrying them in. I tried to carry in too much on the last load so as not to have to make another trip. You remember how we did that - all we could carry and then some. The last stick was placed under my chin with great difficulty and I had risen and was walking toward the house, groaning and grunting with each step, wondering if I could make it. Father, having finished his job, came along behind me; he reached down, picked me up with my load and carried me - and my load too - until I came to the box where he said, 'Drop it in there.'"
We need not be overwhelmed by the tasks at hand. Our Heavenly Father will help us carry the load.
"The eternal God is our refuge. And underneath are the everlasting arms..." (Deuteronomy 33:27).

Points to Ponder is a series of occasional articles written by Rev. Dennis Whitmore, Pastor of Hilltop Christian Fellowship, 12624 Trinity Church Drive, Clear Spring, MD (1/4 mile east of Clear Spring on Rt. 40). Listen to Pastor Dennis on WJEJ-1240 AM, Tues and Thurs, at 10:45am and 7:50pm, both days; and every Sunday from 7:30-7:45am on "Consider This". www.hilltopchristianfellowship.com.